Paramount To Film Mattel's Magic 8 Ball

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount has extended its business with Mattel, optioning the venerable Magic 8 Ball to use as the basis for a live action adventure film. The deal is being put in place by Paramount Motion Picture Group president Adam Goodman, and will be produced by Brad Weston through his overall deal on the Par lot. Jon Gunn and John Mann will write the script. They wrote the DreamWorks Animation pic Alcatraz Vs. The Evil Librarians. Paramount is already in business with Mattel on Max Steel, and has scored hits with the Hasbro toys GI Joe and Transformers. Mattel’s Tim Kilpin and Barry Waldo are exec producers. The toy has 20 pre-set answers to whatever questions one can ask about their past and present and their fortunes.

Um… GI Joe was not a hit. Production budget of 175 (which it exceeded, and this does not include P&A), domestic gross 150. Even with international receipts (which the studio only gets a third of) Joe easily lost 100 million dollars.

Lenny • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

DVD sales, licensing, etc. I’m sure G.I. Joe turned some sort of profit or will at some point.

carg0 • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

hard to believe they invested all that money in that POS movie because it certainly didn’t show…

steve • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

who should i believe mike fleming or some random, anonymous loser on the internet hmmmm

Michelle • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

because only intelligent people believe every article they read on the internet? hmmmm. it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that g.i. joe fizzled. one can hardly say it met or exceeded expectations (at least w/ a straight face). they were banking on the nostalgia factor, but it was poorly executed, mainly because they didn’t stay true to the g.i. joe we all knew and loved.

perplexed • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

The studio gets a cut of all the toys, so that plus the ancillaries and such most likely made it a money maker.

David Pruxmah • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

Spoken like a true, random anonymous loser on the internet.

douchebag police • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

You guys who surf the web during homeroom or whatever and do faux accounting on movies based on numbers you find on IMDb and BoxOfficeMojo, and think you’re talking “industry” talk, are douchebags.

OK that leaves only three nostalgia toys with available film/tv rights left to option:

Silly Putty
Connect Four
Slip N Slide

Thankfully Chinese Finger Cuffs are public domain

ummmmm • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

Believe it or not, the film rights to Silly Putty are already taken. Motion Theory has them.

Onus • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

Don’t forget the Rubik’s Cube

HR Puff n Stuff • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

More importantly, when will “Gnip Gnop” and “Hungy Hungry Hippos” be hitting the big screen?

Heard there’s an amazing “Connect Four” pitch going out soon too.

Troublemaker • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

And people wonder why American cinema is so horrible.

Really? Really? • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

… FAIL.

Furby • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

I don’t get it. You could probably do the exact same movie using one of those little paper fortune-telling things we all made in elementary school (pick a color, pick a number, pick a letter) and you wouldn’t have to pay boku $$ for the rights or give away all the merch rights (since I’m fairly certain Mattel ain’t handing em over!). In fact I have a pitch….it’s called Paper Fortune Teller…. it has 20 pre-set answers to whatever questions one can ask about their past and present and their fortunes. Anyone interested?

Kjle • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

But that would not have spawned a thousand incredulous blog posts.

Johnny Retard • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

This sounds great! Can’t wait!

cookmeyer1970 • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

the magic 8 ball? this is a joke, right?

Jake Gittes • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

Wow. All really is right with the world. Sounds like a genius idea. I can HARDLY WAIT for “Frisbee: The Movie.”

Anonymous • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

My Magic 8-Ball predicts…

This movie will be a big bomb.

The Magic 8-Ball has spoken.

dj • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

will this movie bomb…?

*shakes magic 8 ball*

Fortuneteller • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

My Magic 8 Ball says “Outlook not so good.” What do we want to bet it’ll be in 3-D!

Orson Wells • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

That sound you here is me spinning in my grave. Magic 8 Ball??? When is Silly Putty-The Movie coming out?

So instead of reading novels and screenplays the next generation should just cruise through Toys R Us for their ideas.

This type of pointless tie-in movie is already being widely spoofed (see- last week’s Simpsons’ wonderful “Tic Tac Toe, The Movie: X versus O” bit). I foresee a great many executives seeing red in the near future, and they’ll be seeing it all over their books.

endis nigh • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

What I want to know is when can we see the first feature named after a trademarked food product?

HH • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

Super-size me.

Anonymous • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

Does Mattel make any fun toys?

dvelopment • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

Gunn & Mann are very funny guys, but until we hear an acceptable and hilarious logline, consider this “acquisition” to be a total shit show.

Greenbean • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

I consulted my own Magic 8 Ball how it felt about this deal and the responses were: Outlook Not So Good, Don’t Count On It and What I Really Want To Do Is Direct.

I hope you registered that with the WGA, because I can totally see that movie happening.

G • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

Too late. This movie is already being made.

WME is packaging it and Taylor Lautner is set to star.

Cindy • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

As I see it, yes.
Sounds like fun.

Lenny S. • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

I get the whole “we’re saving money on P&A because we don’t need to spend nearly as much $ on recognition,” but c’mon? At some point it’s just not worth it. Transformers was a great crossover because it had a storyline, even G.I. Joe had potential, but the Magic 8-Ball? What was the pitch?… “10 teenagers are in a garage. Bored and looking for something to do, they decide to raid Joe Teenager’s parents’ liquor cabinet, light up a doobie and play with the MAGIC 8-Ball. Hilarity ensues.”

Neil Brimelow • on Apr 28, 2010 11:04 am

I still can’t believe they spent $175 million on Gi Joe… It looked like a PS3 game. If you would have pressed me I would have guessed their budget at less that $80 million. I guess they blew their wad on that ridiculous Paris chase scene.

BUT, I can understand making a Gi Joe movie; at least Gi Joe has been consistently popular for like 50 years.